A growing breed

Surely recruiters are perfectly well qualified to secure the connections they need?

Surely recruiters are perfectly well qualified to secure the connections they need? They may well be, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have the time — or perhaps even the knowledge — to navigate their way around the vast and ever-changing recruitment employment base. As a result candidates are increasingly calling on the services of recruitment-to-recruitment agencies. And where the candidates tread, companies are sure to follow. Catherine Osaigbovo has always relied on the industry knowledge of rec-to-rec agencies when changing jobs and she was recently placed at HR Professionals by JPA Recruitment to Recruitment. Having been in the same job and sector for a number of years before this placement, she felt she was out of the loop in terms of expectations of companies and the shape of the industry. "JPA were able to look at the bigger picture for me and introduce me to an opportunity in a different sector that I don't think I would have found myself."

This bigger picture is crucial for recruiters, says Julie O'Neill, joint managing director at recruitment-to-recruitment company McCall, as most become specialists in a sector and typically operate in a fairly insular manner. "So when it comes to considering a job move they don't know the whole market and often don't know much about the wider competition.

"Sometimes a candidate will also have a pre-conceived idea of the hiring client, often from a tenuous piece of information that isn't correct or has subsequently changed," O'Neill adds. "We can inform them of new leadership, direction, benefits, transferable skill set — all the important factors that they often won't know."

Rec-to-recs also have an understanding of market rates and can help candidates negotiate better salaries, says Nicky Coffin, director at JPA. "There are a lot of people who don't know what they are worth and are being underpaid," she says. "We have seen a lot of people significantly increase their salary off the back of using a recruitment-to-recruitment agency."

There is also a crucial role for rec-to-recs to play as mediator between client and candidate. This is especially important for Leah Ley-Wilson Recruitment to Recruitment, says Leah Ley-Wilson: "The Scottish market is a small niche compared to that south of the border. In this market, where everyone knows everyone else, confidentiality is key and by coming through us our candidates know they can hear of available job opportunities without putting their names out into the market first."

Osaigbovo admits another reason for using a rec-to-rec is that it simply saves a lot of time: "If the rec-to-rec listens to what I want, they can save me running around and going to too many interviews."

And even if you know the companies you want to approach, says Rob Shevlin, director at Red Pepper Recruitment, you are going to have to approach them yourself and chase up your application. "A senior consultant may take your CV but end up not really doing anything with it and that's not going to get you anywhere as a consultant," he argues. "Whereas we establish a relationship with the right person at a company, push it through and get an interview in a couple of days."

Candidates are also spared the 'hard sell' of themselves to the client, which is a relief for most who find it easier to sell others rather than sell themselves, says Ley-Wilson. What's more, she adds, candidates want to know details such as salaries, commission and hours worked before deciding to apply for a role. "These are not easy questions to ask over the phone if they make their own direct application. We can provide this information for them at the outset." As long as candidates use rec-to-recs, clients are reliant on them for finding staff. As a result, Shevlin reckons most recruitment companies are now open to using rec-to-recs. "It is hard, business-wise, to turn away a good quality candidate that is going to make £15,000 a month for the business."

Rec-to-recs can also save the clients time and effort. "Finding quality candidates is the biggest bane of our lives," says Coffin. "We probably spend about 85% of our time generating candidates." But other recruiters, she points out, just haven't got this sort of time to spare.

Of course the downside for the client of using a rec-to-rec agency is the fee. But, argues Ley-Wilson, clients only incur this if someone is placed "and, even then, there is a service guarantee scheme that provides rebates if a new employee should leave within an agreed period." And, she adds, the alternative approach through advertising is becoming increasingly expensive and doesn't guarantee a result.

There are additional services a rec-to-rec agency can offer a client. For a start they become a kind of marketing tool that clients use to sell their company to candidates, says Ley-Wilson. And they can help agencies monitor trends in the industry as a whole. "We provide generic information on such things as salary levels, different forms of commission, bonus schemes and hours worked. This information is used by our clients to update their own commission schemes in order to ensure they remain competitive in the market." Recruitment is successful because professional recruiters make good introductions that a hiring client needs. And rec-to-rec is no different, says O'Neill. "Just because a recruiter already works in recruitment, it doesn't mean they have the time or even the inclination to research the prospective targets."

One difference between rec-to-recs and other agencies is that in many ways a rec-to-rec's job is harder. "I personally wouldn't do it," says Osaigbovo. "Trying to sell to a sales person would be a nightmare."

Coffin agrees it can be tough: "We deal with recruitment consultants who think that we are trying to sell them an opportunity. Actually we are not: we are talking them through an opportunity. Also they know how the industry works so we need to be 10 steps ahead."

Being 10 steps ahead requires developing a broader range of skills, she says. "We have to be superior networkers, advert writers as well as recruiters. We have to be able to attract candidates, place candidates, profile the company and ensure that they are experts in their fields."

O'Neill agrees that rec-to-rec consultants need a wider range of skills than counterparts in general recruitment. "Typically, a recruiter working in the high street knows the local geographic really well and a search consultant in banking knows the City really well. But they will have limited knowledge of other sectors. This isn't the case in our market. Recruitment-to-recruitment professionals need knowledge of all recruitment sectors combined; from technical and IT to public sector, from high street to accounts and finance, from search to industrial and driving."

They need to understand the nuances and differences of all fields and also keep abreast of broader economic trends that could affect recruitment sectors. "A couple for years ago the public sector was really busy with hiring and now it isn't, and after 9/11 the bottom fell out of the IT market. We need to be able to spot trends, and re-focus and re-align regularly," says O'Neill. Leah Ley-Wilson has distinguished itself from other agencies by operating a 'no headhunting' policy, says Ley-Wilson. "If you headhunt, it is only a question of time before the limited number of agencies here in Scotland forces you to headhunt out of your clients. If we are really to act as long-term partners to our clients, if we are really to offer our service with integrity, then we cannot play on both sides of the fence at once."

She hopes this policy will help improve the reputation of the rec-to-rec sector that, in the past, has suffered from resistance from recruiters.

Osaigbovo admits that from the other side of the fence as a manager using rec-to-recs to find staff, she had come across a great deal of bad practice. "Rec-to-recs seem to try and flog loads of people and don't really seem to listen to what the clients are looking for," she says.

Coffin hopes this is changing: "We have worked really hard and make sure we listen and provide clients with what they are looking for. There are some really great rec-to-rec consultants out there but, as within any recruitment market, you are going to have good players and really dreadful players."

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